In recent speeches, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has
called on Hamas to sign a reconciliation agreement with Fatah, and
has boasted that he did not give in to American pressure. US had
asked Abbas not to sign an agreement with Hamas.

Speaking of reconciliation with Hamas, Abbas insisted that the two
factions agree on essential issues:

"There is no disagreement between us
[Fatah and Hamas]:
About belief? None!
About policy? None!
About [violent] resistance? None!"

Referring to US pressure to refrain from signing an agreement with
Hamas, Abbas said that he had been subjected to "pressure" by the
Americans, but that he had resisted that pressure and signed a
preliminary agreement.

The following are excerpts from Mahmoud Abbas´s two statements:

"We have said, more than once, that we are opposed to the rockets
which are of no use. And [Hamas] has said that we are weak, that we
don´t want [violent] resistance, and we don´t want, and we don´t
want. They [Hamas] have confronted us with agreements [signed] with
other organizations [in Gaza], and they have even begun preventing
[terror attacks], and they have even begun to strike at anyone who
tries to carry out acts of [violent] resistance...
In short, there is no disagreement between us [Fatah and Hamas]:
About belief? None! About policy? None! About [violent] resistance?
None! So what do you [Hamas] disagree about? Why are you not signing
the [reconciliation] agreement?" [PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 31, 2009]

"In a meeting with the Kuwaiti press... President [Abbas] expressed
willingness to sign a document of national reconciliation with
Hamas... Concerning the agreement expressed by the head of Hamas,
Khaled Mashaal, to sign the agreement and the question of whether the
two sides are being subjected to external pressure, the President
confirmed that he had been subjected to heavy pressure by the
Americans, and that they had asked him not to sign, but he had signed
[a preliminary agreement - Ed.] He said: ´[For] anyone who claims
that I am acceding to [American] pressure - I am not acceding to
them. I have a great number of examples [proving] this.´ He
emphasized that the national interest was far more important than the
other matters."[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 7, 2010]